Greetings from New York

[Daria_S]

I already posted a couple of times (though the majority of my time on this forum is spent reading), but thought it would be polite to say 'hello' and introduce myself.

I'm Daria (or Dasha, if we're going informal), and I'm in my last term of a graduate program. I'm working on becoming a teacher for children with visual impairment, and hope to be done and ready to graduate this May.

My interest in royalty started when I was in high school, but my first introduction to royalty took place eight years before that. I'm originally from Russia, and when I was in primary school, my mother put me in an after-school class to study English. My instructor visited London several times, and on our last day of class brought in some slides that he took when he went there in the time of Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee. Living in a country that allowed such brutal murders of the members of the Imperial Family made me rather wary of all things royal, however, like any child, I loved fairy tales, and heard about royalty from there. When I saw an image of Queen Elizabeth, I couldn't believe that a queen looked so ordinary. I was expecting jewels and a fancy ball gown (not someone who looked like my great-grandmother). I didn't do anything about my curiosity, because back then I was a lot more interested in reading about Peter the Great (who ended up being not so great), but whenever I'd hear the name of the British monarch on the news, I'd turn my head and watch, hoping that maybe this time she'd appear in something more regal.

I think those impressions and my love of history brought me back to wanting to know more about royalty when I was a teen. That interest is still there, and that's how I ended up on this forum. I'm learning a great deal, and hope to continue to do so.

[ortiz]

Hi Daria!

[Olovlig]

Cool story!